We lead two lives, and the half of our soul is madness, and half heaven is lit by a black sun. I say I am a man, is the other that hides in me?
Arthur MachenRead
There are sacraments of evil as well as of good about us, and we live and move to my belief in an unknown world, a place where there are caves and shadows and dwellers in twilight. It is possible that man may sometimes return on the track of evolution, and it is my belief that an awful lore is not yet dead.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests a duality in existence, where both good and evil coexist, and hints at the mysteries of the unknown world.
Arthur Machen's quote reflects on the complex nature of our reality, proposing that just as there are sacred truths and virtues (sacraments of good), there are equally profound and dark aspects (sacraments of evil). The idea of an unknown world filled with shadows and caves evokes a sense of mystery and danger, suggesting that humanity's journey through evolution may not always be upward or progressive but could also lead back into shadows of our nature, where ancient and dark knowledge endures.
Themes
EvilGoodUnknownWorldEvolutionMysteryDarkness
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of morality, this quote can illustrate the presence of both good and evil.
More from Arthur Machen
All quotes →It was better, he thought, to fail in attempting exquisite things than to succeed in the department of the utterly contemptible.
Arthur MachenRead
Every branch of human knowledge, if traced up to its source and final principles, vanishes into mystery.
Arthur MachenRead
And there were other rocks that were like animals, creeping, horrible animals, putting out their tongues, and others were like words I could not say, and others like dead people lying on the grass. I went on among them, though they frightened me, and my heart was full of wicked song they put into it; and I wanted to make faces and twist myself about the way they did, and I went on and on a long way till at last I liked the rocks and they didn’t frighten me any more
Arthur MachenRead
Similar quotes
We forget that the world is what we imagine it to be. We stop being the sun and become, instead, the pool of water reflecting it.
Paulo CoelhoRead
The only place where poverty should be is in museums.
Muhammad YunusRead
God is God; you are but one of His creatures. Your only joy is to be found in obeying Him, your true fulfillment is to be found in worshiping Him, your only wisdom is to be found in trusting and knowing Him.
Sinclair B. FergusonRead
If one yearns to see the face of the Divine, one must break out of the aquarium, escape the fish farm, to go swim up wild cataracts, dive in deep fjords. One must explore the labyrinth of the reef, the shadows of the lily pads. How limiting, how insulting to think of God as a benevolent warden, an absentee hatchery manager who imprisons us in the 'comfort' of artificial pools, where intermediaries sprinkle our restrictive waters with sanitized flakes of processed nutriment.
Tom RobbinsRead
I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one fish was caught, he was writhing, then he was thrown against the side of the boat. You couldn't disguise what it was. This was what we did to animals to eat them. The animal went from a living, vibrant creature fighting for life to a violent death. I recognized it, as did my brothers and sisters.
Joaquin PhoenixRead
To believe in the God over us and around us and not in the God within us - that would be a powerless and fruitless faith.
Phillips BrooksRead